DPM, PharmD, MD, DO, NP, CRNA, PA,Please Help with my planning!!!

[GucciBaby7]

Hi everyone,
I would DEEPLY appreciate responses regarding my career.
I am almost 24 years old, and will finally receive my degree 1/03/2017 in Health Sciences.
I still haven't taken Ochem, Physics, and Calculus.

I was planning on becoming a PA, and thought it was my ABSOLUTE dream. However, after some thinking, and a dream that I had, and shadowing PA's, I am saddened to know that this is NOT the job for me.
I don't want to work UNDER someone for the rest of my life, I want SOME power.
Health is definitely something I want to do because thats what my degree is in and I have already taken anatomy, physiology, micro, general bio, genetics, etc. And I love physiology, its my passion to help people too!
Please review my personal Pros and Cons, and give me your opinion or advice or thoughts! Please!
Please keep in mind I live in SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

CASPA GPA (undergraduate, all institutions) : 3.2
SCIENCE GPA: 3.51




1) PA - working under someone forever, however can work in any specialty

2) MD- too much of a commitment, with the degree and residencies, etc

3) DPM- working with feet for the rest of your life, lower pay

4) DDS- saturated dentists all over southern California, too much commitment to specialize after

5) DPT- it seems boring, but may seem like a better fit for me since its only a few years with no residency

6) pharmD- I'm about to work at cvs as a pharm tech to see if I like it, but pharmacy seems extremely difficult because my weakness is general chem, and genetics. But I am good at bio and physio. I can be my own boss and even have my own pharmacy or work in a hospital as a pharmacist. I just hear so many people losing their licenses, its kind of scary. I also heard there is a saturation of PharmD's in southern cali too.

7) NP- for this I would have to do 2 years post bac, 2 years MSN, and then 2 years of the DNP. Thats 6 years. Not worth it.

8) PLEASE BE NICE AND HELP ME PLEASE!!!

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[Moose A Moose]

First off, you will always work under somebody (but I get what you're saying).

You sound like your best fit would be DPT, especially if your student debt isn't too bad.

 

[GucciBaby7]

But DPT makes an average of 70k a year in southern california. You can't live off that in Cali But thank youuuuuu

 

[PharmtoCS]

There are way too many healthcare professionals (in all sorts of fields but especially pharmacists) in Southern California, and schools are ridiculously expensive, leaving you with astronomical amounts of debt and a hard time finding a job. You will most likely have to relocate out of the area if you want to be gainfully employed. Even if you were to find a job there, the overall pay is pretty bad relative to the cost of living and student loans you would have to pay each month.

I would say keep your options to other fields outside of healthcare, i.e. finance, accounting, or computer science if you want a better quality of life, better pay, better job prospects, and less debt in SoCal. You could start your own software company and take on millions of dollars in venture capital funding (I heard it's a lot harder these days, though).

 

[PromisedNeverland]

Hi everyone,
I would DEEPLY appreciate responses regarding my career.
I am almost 24 years old, and will finally receive my degree 1/03/2017 in Health Sciences.
I still haven't taken Ochem, Physics, and Calculus.

I was planning on becoming a PA, and thought it was my ABSOLUTE dream. However, after some thinking, and a dream that I had, and shadowing PA's, I am saddened to know that this is NOT the job for me.
I don't want to work UNDER someone for the rest of my life, I want SOME power.
Health is definitely something I want to do because thats what my degree is in and I have already taken anatomy, physiology, micro, general bio, genetics, etc. And I love physiology, its my passion to help people too!
Please review my personal Pros and Cons, and give me your opinion or advice or thoughts! Please!
Please keep in mind I live in SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

CASPA GPA (undergraduate, all institutions) : 3.2
SCIENCE GPA: 3.51




1) PA - working under someone forever, however can work in any specialty

2) MD- too much of a commitment, with the degree and residencies, etc

3) DPM- working with feet for the rest of your life, lower pay

4) DDS- saturated dentists all over southern California, too much commitment to specialize after

5) DPT- it seems boring, but may seem like a better fit for me since its only a few years with no residency

6) pharmD- I'm about to work at cvs as a pharm tech to see if I like it, but pharmacy seems extremely difficult because my weakness is general chem, and genetics. But I am good at bio and physio. I can be my own boss and even have my own pharmacy or work in a hospital as a pharmacist. I just hear so many people losing their licenses, its kind of scary. I also heard there is a saturation of PharmD's in southern cali too.

7) NP- for this I would have to do 2 years post bac, 2 years MSN, and then 2 years of the DNP. Thats 6 years. Not worth it.

8) PLEASE BE NICE AND HELP ME PLEASE!!!

lol, be your own boss as a pharmacist ... puahahahaha, own pharmacy ... muahahaha

 

[GucciBaby7]

There are way too many healthcare professionals (in all sorts of fields but especially pharmacists) in Southern California, and schools are ridiculously expensive, leaving you with astronomical amounts of debt and a hard time finding a job. You will most likely have to relocate out of the area if you want to be gainfully employed. Even if you were to find a job there, the overall pay is pretty bad relative to the cost of living and student loans you would have to pay each month.

I would say keep your options to other fields outside of healthcare, i.e. finance, accounting, or computer science if you want a better quality of life, better pay, better job prospects, and less debt in SoCal. You could start your own software company and take on millions of dollars in venture capital funding (I heard it's a lot harder these days, though).

Why don't you do that though? Aren't you a pharmacist?

 

[GucciBaby7]

lol, be your own boss as a pharmacist ... puahahahaha, own pharmacy ... muahahaha

Not really helping me but thanks.

 

[PharmtoCS]

Why don't you do that though? Aren't you a pharmacist?

Too late for me, but at least you have others on this board to warn you about current job conditions.

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[Nguyen]

Basically you ruled out every other health field besides pharmacy. Just be a pharmacist dude.


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[lnguyen1412]

Lol DPM does not have low pay. At least the pay is 100k+.

 

[PharmtoCS]

With the exception of MD and maybe PA and DDS, your take home of most of the professions you listed will most likely be $40-60k when you factor in California taxes and student loan payments. A coding bootcamp costs about $10k and take only 3-4 months, after which you can earn at least $65k. Even taking computer science classes in community college for a few thousand dollars in tuition would help you get a job pretty easily.

 

[Humble Sloth]

Hi everyone,
I would DEEPLY appreciate responses regarding my career.
I am almost 24 years old, and will finally receive my degree 1/03/2017 in Health Sciences.
I still haven't taken Ochem, Physics, and Calculus.

I was planning on becoming a PA, and thought it was my ABSOLUTE dream. However, after some thinking, and a dream that I had, and shadowing PA's, I am saddened to know that this is NOT the job for me.
I don't want to work UNDER someone for the rest of my life, I want SOME power.
Health is definitely something I want to do because thats what my degree is in and I have already taken anatomy, physiology, micro, general bio, genetics, etc. And I love physiology, its my passion to help people too!
Please review my personal Pros and Cons, and give me your opinion or advice or thoughts! Please!
Please keep in mind I live in SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

CASPA GPA (undergraduate, all institutions) : 3.2
SCIENCE GPA: 3.51




1) PA - working under someone forever, however can work in any specialty

2) MD- too much of a commitment, with the degree and residencies, etc

3) DPM- working with feet for the rest of your life, lower pay

4) DDS- saturated dentists all over southern California, too much commitment to specialize after

5) DPT- it seems boring, but may seem like a better fit for me since its only a few years with no residency

6) pharmD- I'm about to work at cvs as a pharm tech to see if I like it, but pharmacy seems extremely difficult because my weakness is general chem, and genetics. But I am good at bio and physio. I can be my own boss and even have my own pharmacy or work in a hospital as a pharmacist. I just hear so many people losing their licenses, its kind of scary. I also heard there is a saturation of PharmD's in southern cali too.

7) NP- for this I would have to do 2 years post bac, 2 years MSN, and then 2 years of the DNP. Thats 6 years. Not worth it.

8) PLEASE BE NICE AND HELP ME PLEASE!!!

All I can speak for is pharmacy. It's a hyper saturated field 9x so in cali and 15x so in LA. You will not get a job unless you work in rural Idaho and even then you would be lucky to get a job because it will take you at least another 3 years. You should do PA or RN --> CRNA money or NP power. The pay is going down for pharmD and new grads are currently getting around 70k a year for float/prn which is all that is available.

 

[Humble Sloth]

There are way too many healthcare professionals (in all sorts of fields but especially pharmacists) in Southern California, and schools are ridiculously expensive, leaving you with astronomical amounts of debt and a hard time finding a job. You will most likely have to relocate out of the area if you want to be gainfully employed. Even if you were to find a job there, the overall pay is pretty bad relative to the cost of living and student loans you would have to pay each month.

I would say keep your options to other fields outside of healthcare, i.e. finance, accounting, or computer science if you want a better quality of life, better pay, better job prospects, and less debt in SoCal. You could start your own software company and take on millions of dollars in venture capital funding (I heard it's a lot harder these days, though).

This x999. California is beyond saturation. There are zero jobs for pharmDs. The tuition here is ridic. If you are going to do pharm do LECOM in erie. It's 3 year for 27k a year not like pacific that is 47k+. it will take 20+ years to pay that back

 

[lnguyen1412]

This x999. California is beyond saturation. There are zero jobs for pharmDs. The tuition here is ridic. If you are going to do pharm do LECOM in erie. It's 3 year for 27k a year not like pacific that is 47k+. it will take 20+ years to pay that back

Concur!!!!
Right now for health profession: MD/DO, DPM, PA, or DDS are good for job security and decent pay.